


Let's Pretend This Started With A Drunk Bet

by shefrommo



Series: I'm no longer in Creative Writing classes, so I can post these now [8]
Category: Original Work
Genre: A spy remix of an old superhero story, Gen, Originally written 3/3/20, Written for Creative Writing class
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24889195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shefrommo/pseuds/shefrommo
Summary: Telyn Blunt, also known as Agent Lyra of the superspy organization Horoscope, is assigned a new mission. Horoscope has recently become aware of a potential supervillain named Audric Claire, and Telyn is chosen to spy on him. As one of the few agents with an offensively useful superpower, Telyn is the perfect choice to fight Claire should he make a grab for world domination.However, Telyn's father, the ex-top superhero Brynn Blunt, has issues with letting his precious daughter go spy on a supervillain, even only a potential one. To do her job, Telyn will have to face down both a seemingly harmless Claire and her own father's disapproval.
Relationships: Brynn Blunt & Telyn Blunt | Agent Lyra, Telyn Blunt | Agent Lyra & Audric Claire, Telyn Blunt | Agent Lyra & Chrissy | Agent Scorpio
Series: I'm no longer in Creative Writing classes, so I can post these now [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800808





	Let's Pretend This Started With A Drunk Bet

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is one of my babies, so I hope you all enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed writing it!

“I know this is a big assignment,” Agent Pisces said, “especially since we don’t know what he wants. Are you certain you can handle this, Agent Lyra?”

Agent Lyra, otherwise known as Telyn Blunt, nodded once and said, “I’m certain, sir.”

Pisces looked at Telyn for a moment, then gestured to the file on the table between them. A streak of neon pink light followed his movement, fading slowly as he spoke. “We’ve already been over the mission briefing, but if you have any questions, ask. I don’t want to lose you or any other agent over some small detail that wasn’t clarified enough.”

“With all due respect sir,” Telyn said dryly, “this is a spy mission. Unknown variables and small details left out of the file are exactly what I’m trying to find.”

Pisces cracked a smile at that, “I suppose so. Either way, you get my drift.” He sat back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. More light followed his movements, this time bright blue and pastel purple. “If you don’t have any questions, go over the current file and start preparing. You’ll move into your new apartment in two weeks.”

Telyn saluted him, “Yes, sir!” She grabbed the file and shut the door behind her on her way out. Almost immediately, she started giggling.

Pisces’ superpower was a pretty useless one: all it did was produce streaks of light corresponding to his mood every time he so much as twitched. Watching him wave his hands around as he spoke was always fun, since the loops of color made for interesting pictures in the air, but what always struck Telyn as hilarious was the bright, cheery colors that popped up. Bright blue signified amusement, pastel purple relief, and, of all things, neon pink for seriousness. It had been harder than it probably should have been to resist laughing when he’d dropped his pen on the ground mid-meeting and trailed lime green exasperation as he picked it up.

As soon as Telyn sat down at her desk, she opened the file to start reading through the full report. There was dishearteningly little to it—Horoscope was one of the best intelligence agencies on the continent, providing superhero organizations with much needed intel on both villains, supervillains, and common crooks with problematic powers—and yet Lyra’s new file was mostly unknowns and approximates. She skimmed it anyway.

Name: Audric Claire  
Alias: Templar  
Age: Approximately 30-35 years  
Powers:   
Primary: Morphic—results in scales and claws appearing. Extent of transformation is unknown. Facial features shift and appear to be reptilian when morphic power is active  
Secondary: Unknown. Suspected to have heat-detecting characteristics and/or a heightened sense of smell, like other reptiles. _May also have camouflage abilities, like a chameleon. –recommendation from Agent Diviner_  
Country of Origin: Unknown.   
Height: Approximately 6’7”  
Weight: Approximately 210 lbs.  
History: Apr. 17th, 2096: Showed up in London. Appeared to be sightseeing for several days. Apr. 21st, 2096: Took a plane to Berlin. Appeared to be sightseeing for several days. … November 30th, 2096: Took a plane to Hong Kong. Was confronted by Fēnghuang and Liang of the Hong-Kong chapter of the Chinese Supervillain League. Refused offers to join. Defeated both and left them for local police to collect. (See Report CM-HK11302096A, Section 4). Left meeting area and appeared to be sightseeing for several days. …

“What do you have there?” A pen tapped Telyn on the shoulder, and she startled a little, looking up from the long list of, _‘Appeared to be sightseeing for several days’_ that she had been reading. Agent Scorpio leaned down to peer at the file in Telyn’s hands, and Telyn automatically tugged it away from the older woman. Scorpio pouted at her. “I’m just curious!”

“And this is my assignment,” Telyn said. After a moment, though, she relented. “I can’t let you have the file, but I’ve been assigned to monitor a suspected villain. Maybe even a supervillain.”

“A supervillain?” Scorpio raised an eyebrow. “Which one? Akiki the Star-Eater? Horseman Death of The Apocalypse League? That slime ball Captain Leather Pants? I still can’t believe that a guy with empathy-based powers managed to conquer Luxembourg. Isn’t he, like, 60 now? 80? Somewhere in that ballpark?”

“That’s a very large ballpark, there, Scorpio,” Telyn said.

“You’re missing the point, Telyn. He’s probably my grandparents’ age, and he took over a small country. Plus, he wears leather pants. Who takes over a country, even a very small one, wearing leather pants, a trench coat, and armed only with a pistol and his emotions?”

“Scorpio, you’re not supposed to use real names on base,” Telyn reminded her. “And to be fair, I’d be pretty crippled if he broadcasted pure terror into my mind and I had no way to get him out of my head. His ‘Affective Empathy’ is a hard power to fight.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Scorpio sighed. “But still, shouldn’t he be retired by now?”

“Well, he’s still running the country, so I’d say no,” Lyra said. “But that’s not who I’m monitoring. I’m supposed to be watching a guy going by Templar, real name Audric Claire. He has some sort of morphic power that lets him sprout claws and scales. Diviner says he might be able to go full-on chameleon, since there’s a couple incidents where he just shows up out of nowhere.”

“And he’s the prospective supervillain?” Scorpio raised her eyebrow again. “There’s got to be more than that to him. You don’t just decide to call yourself a supervillain out of nowhere. You must be clever and extraordinarily dangerous to earn the title. Look at Captain Leather Pants. Ridiculous name, ridiculous outfit, ridiculous power, and yet he’s one of the most successful supervillains of this century. He runs his own country, and there’s not a single thing we can do to stop him. Or the Horsemen of The Apocalypse League. Individually, they’ve all nearly ended the world, and thank God that Comet Shower managed to kill off most of them before they stopped infighting long enough to unite.”

“You’re preaching to the choir,” Telyn said. “I’m not seeing anything that makes me think villain, never mind supervillain, but the Chinese Supervillain League saw fit to send two of its highest-ranking members to recruit him when he first landed in Hong Kong. They wouldn’t try to recruit him if there wasn’t something interesting about him.”

“They tried to recruit him?” Scorpio leaned forwards to try and get a look at the file herself. “I’m guessing by the ‘tried’ they didn’t succeed?”

“He beat both Fēnghuang and Liang easily, and left them for the local police. And keep your hands off my file!” Telyn pulled the file away from the reaching hand.

“Alright, alright. I’ll leave it alone then,” Scorpio raised her hands in surrender. “By the way, when you say ‘monitor,’ do you mean, watch footage and track his movements or, you know…”

“He’s got an apartment in Upper Kensington and looks to be staying there for a while. Prior to this, it was just hotels all the time. I’m moving to the apartment building he’s in and will be doing some more hands-on stuff,” Telyn said.

Scorpio looked even more concerned. “Are you going to be alright? You haven’t done any hands-on stuff in a while, and I know that you’re a lot more recognizable than most of us are, what with your dad and all.”

“I’ll be fine,” Telyn assured her, then frowned. “I’m not sure I can say the same for my relationship with Dad, though.”

***

“You’re moving?” Brynn Blunt said, staring at his adoptive daughter in astonishment. “To where? And why?”

Telyn sipped at her soup for a moment, rewording her explanation in her head. Then she set her spoon down. “I’m moving because my current apartment is small, and the new one is bigger and in a better area than my current on is. I thought you were the one who had problems with me living on the edges of, and I’m going to quote you here, the degenerate cesspool from which all villains come?”   
“Well, yes,” Brynn said, unhappily, “It is an awful area to be living in, and I’m glad that you’re moving out, but really! You could just move in with me again.”

“You live farther away from work than either of my two apartments.” Telyn said flatly.

“You wouldn’t have to pay rent,” he wheedled. “Help with groceries and chores, yes, but you wouldn’t have to deal with rent.”

“No, just an extra hour on my commute.”

“That’s not so bad. I still have your old alarm clock around here somewhere…”

“I have my own, Dad.”

“…and I’ll make you breakfast and a lunch to take to work with you. It’ll be just like when you were in high school! Or, well, I haven’t made you a lunch since elementary school, so I suppose it would be more like when you were a kid,” Brynn said earnestly.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Telyn muttered. Half the reason she’d moved out as soon as possible was so that she wouldn’t have to deal with the constant hovering.

Brynn meant well, she knew, and he really did care about her. It was just…he was the walking definition of a helicopter parent. Okay, so she’d been kidnapped once as a kid, it was fine. There wasn’t any reason to worry so much anymore. Telyn had been taking self-defense lessons from her dad as soon as her powers came in, or rather, as soon as he’d adopted her.

Brynn was the ex-top superhero Clockwork, and almost thirty years ago, he’d busted a kidnapping ring. Brynn could mesmerize people into doing what he wanted, but mesmerizing tended to dehydrate him. He always joked that all the talking he did, dried his throat out, and that’s why he needed to drink so much water. Whatever the case was, he needed to drink something when he’d been mesmerizing people for extended periods of time, and unfortunately, he’d spilled his water bottle all over the ground. Telyn, who’d been about two or three at the time—not even she knew how old she was when she was kidnapped and subsequently rescued—and following him out of the building, had pulled all the water off the ground, shaking out the dust and germs in the process, and put about half of it back in the bottle. The other half ended up on Brynn’s clothes. Her control hadn’t been too good at the time.

That was Telyn’s power. She was hydrokinetic, meaning she could control water, and mildly photokinetic, meaning she could create hard-light constructs. Unlike most photokinetics, her powers worked best in lowlight environments, where there wasn’t much light to work with in the first place.

Brynn had ended up adopting her, and he’d tried his best to be a great parent for her. Unfortunately, with his status as a high-ranking superhero and then the top superhero, he’d been away often. When he’d finally retired—after suffering a near-fatal injury courtesy of Akiki the Star-Eater—Brynn had devoted all his attention to doting on his almost-college aged daughter. And Telyn, used to far laxer parental controls, had chafed under the sudden restrictions.

Even now, almost ten years after their first big fight with each other, Brynn was still suffocating her with the attention and mollycoddling. Of course, the topic of contention these days wasn’t how late she could stay out but over her job.

Brynn was firmly convinced that superhero work was too dangerous for his darling daughter to take up, and Telyn had initially wanted to follow in his footsteps and be a superheroine herself. The resultant clash had resulted in Telyn going to a college halfway across the country and berated her father into staying at their home. If she hadn’t, he probably would have packed up and moved with her.

When Horoscope, a well-known spy agency, had approached her with a position, she’d jumped at the chance, figuring that she could get some action and placate her dad in one fell swoop. Brynn had disagreed. Spying on people was still too dangerous for her in his eyes, and Telyn had given up on trying to change his mind.

She liked her job too much to drop it and made a point of only visiting her dad once every other week to reduce the inevitable arguments over it. It was almost routine at this point—she would bring up her job. He would say that it was too dangerous. She would say that she spent half her time in front of a computer screen. He would complain that she could do that just as well from home, and she would shut her mouth so she didn’t say something awful but true like “But I don’t want to be home around you.”

In the meantime, Brynn would go on and on about his new idea that would keep her safely away from harm. In college, it had been nursing. Then tennis—as if she’d kept up with that sport after sophomore year of high school—then art. Telyn couldn’t draw and they both knew that. He’d only needed one incredulous look from her to drop that alternative. Now, he was convinced that she should quit Horoscope and become a housewife.

As if!

Telyn got up and put her dishes in the sink. “I have to get going, Dad. I need to get home and finish boxing up my stuff, and I’ll be moving out tomorrow.” She pumped the dish soap dispenser once, and a brisk wave of her hand sent water cascading over the dishes, washing them clean. Another wave ensured that they were rinsed off properly.

Brynn went silent, wringing his hands and looking upset. “Where are you moving, again?” he asked. “I’ll help with the move.”

Telyn turned to look at him in surprise. “…2217 Oxford Street, Apartment 416. You can follow me there.” She smiled and hugged her dad. “Thanks. I really appreciate the help. But!” She leaned back and pointed at him sternly, “cover your face. I deal enough with people going, ‘is that Clockwork?’ when they see you on the streets, I don’t need the paparazzi getting in the way as I move all my stuff in. Honestly, Dad, why couldn’t you have worn a mask like Double Helix did?”

“I will, I will!” Brynn said, “Besides, I thought I looked cool.”

“You looked like a knock-off Clark Kent. One with 1980s Dick Grayson’s fashion sense. Face it, Dad, you were the real-life version of Disco Nightwing.”

When Brynn showed up the next day wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, and a polka dot t-shirt that read, “I am Clockwork,” Telyn was not surprised.

***

It was only after Audric Claire opened the door that Telyn let herself think that her idea was perhaps not the greatest idea. In hindsight, getting a little bit drunk before going to say hi to her target did not make for good odds. 

“…can I help you?” Claire asked uncertainly. He only had the door open an inch and looked like he wanted to close it.

“Hi!” Telyn said and flailed a hand at him. “My friend said—no, bet, _bet_ , that’s what she did—bet me that I couldn’t go up to the cute neighbor guy and ask him out. I’m here! I did it!”

Claire stared at her a moment longer, then closed his eyes and pinched his nose. “Ma’am, are you drunk?”

“Nope! I’m as sober as a swallowtail!” Telyn said. She wasn’t sure that she was making sense, but she was going for ‘harmless confused drunk girl from upstairs’ so nonsense would probably only help her.

“High?”

“Drugs are bad,” Telyn told him seriously, then added in a much more chipper tone, “My fifth grade DARE teacher said so!”

“…Right,” Claire sighed. “Uh, I hate to break this to you, ma’am, but I’ve never seen you before. And I’ve met everyone on my floor already. I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”

“No, no, I’ve seen you before!” Telyn insisted, “I saw you when I was moving in, just the other week. Day. Weekday. I live on the fourth floor.”

“The fourth?” Claire repeated, and glanced up automatically, as though he could see the fourth floor above him despite the third floor being between him and Telyn’s floor. Maybe he could see it. Maybe he had x-ray vision, like Superman.

“I don’t have x-ray vision,” Claire said.

Telyn stared at him, wide-eyed. “Did you just…read my mind?” she whispered. Telepaths were _rare_. Telepathy was one of, if not _the_ rarest power to get.

“No, but you were talking out loud.”

“Oh. Boo. I like my explanation better.”

Claire sighed. Then he stepped out of his apartment and closed the door, though he didn’t lock it. Catching her by the elbow, he said, “Ma’am, which apartment is yours? I’ll walk you back to it.”

Wait, no. Telyn was supposed to get inside his apartment at some point. Right now? Now was good. “No,” she protested, “I’m supposed to—to get pictures.”

“Pictures?”

“My friend said I couldn’t get the cute neighbor guy to be the Batman to my sexy cat burglar,” Telyn explained, gesturing to herself. Then she tapped the cat eared headband she was wearing. “I’m Catwoman, the sexy Catwoman burglar. See, I have the ears to prove it! And I have a Batman mask!” Telyn held up the cheap plastic mask. It was sized to fit a kindergartener. “I have to take pictures, or it didn’t happen."

Claire was looking more and more exasperated, but he took the mask and let her take her pictures. Outside his apartment. She turned sad doe eyes on him, but when he refused to budge on letting her inside, she let him walk her back to her apartment. She’d have to get those pictures of his apartment later.

***

The next morning, Telyn rolled off the bed, woke up with a cry of pain, and then curled into a ball on her carpet for several moments, trying to work up the willpower to get up and climb back into her nice, warm bed. She was just about to fall back asleep on her floor when her phone buzzed, and she startled awake again.

She fumbled upright and flailed around at her nightstand before locating her phone. She’d missed her dad’s call but that wasn’t all she’d missed apparently. There are forty-three missed texts and seven other missed calls. Most of the texts were from Chrissy, or Agent Scorpio as she was known in the office, whom she’d gone out with the night before. Chrissy had been asking if she was alright and mentioning that they’d never finished their planning session.

Telyn stared at these messages in bewilderment, then remembered that the night before she’d gotten drunk and talked to Claire. Immediately, Telyn scrambled to her feet, and sprinted out the door and down two flights of stairs. She came to a stop in front of Claire’s front door and knocked.

It took a moment, but Claire opened the door and blinked at her in surprise.

Before he could say anything, Telyn blurted out, “Ohmygod, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to barge in on you last night or come on to you like that or…uh, everything. I was drunk. So drunk. I probably should’ve cut myself off earlier than I did. I am so sorry about last night.”

Claire looked away from her. “It’s fine. A little unusual, but there was no harm done. I see you’re fine, and didn’t drown in your vomit or anything, so that’s good.”

“I…yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for making sure that I got back to my apartment last night.” Telyn rocked back on her heels and scratched the back of her head. She noticed that her feet were throbbing but considering she hadn’t put any shoes on before she sprinted down two flights of stairs, that probably shouldn’t be a surprise.

“It really wasn’t a problem,” Claire said, still refusing to look at her. “I, uh, have something I need to finish up, so I’m going to have to cut the conversation short, ma’am. Sorry.” He started to close the door.

Before it closed all the way, Telyn blurted out, “Thanks again!” Once the door clicked shut, she sighed and looked down at her feet. Then she yelped. She hadn’t put any shoes on before running downstairs, and she hadn’t stopped to get dressed either. Which wouldn’t have been so bad, if she hadn’t also gotten halfway undressed before going to bed the night before. No wonder Claire hadn’t been looking at her—she was just in her robe, pink heart-dotted pajama pants and a bra. Telyn rushed back to her apartment, suddenly grateful that nobody else was around, and that the villain hadn’t spent the whole conversation staring at her boobs.

She showered and dressed, and then went in to work, only slightly late. By an hour. Which wasn’t as bad as not coming in, and at least Telyn could say that she’d made contact with Claire, so Pisces couldn’t be too mad at her.

He was mad after all, and after the inevitable scolding was finished, Telyn slunk back to her desk sheepishly. Almost immediately, Scorpio flounced over and sat on the corner of Telyn’s desk. “Where were you? You’re an hour late.”

“I woke up late and hungover and stayed a little longer at apartment complex chatting with Claire.” Telyn grumbled. “I’m still hungover, technically.”

Scorpio made a sympathetic noise, then reached over and pressed her hand to the back of Telyn’s head, cradling the swell of her skull. The dim ache of a hangover vanished under Scorpio’s touch. Telyn sighed with relief—this was one of the best benefits to being best friends with a touch-based healer. “Chrissy, you are a lifesaver. Have I ever told you I love you?”

“Only every time I help with your hangovers. And what happened to, ‘no real names on base’? Are we dropping that now?” Scorpio teased.

“Mm, my apologies then. Scorpio, you are a lifesaver. Thank you for saving me from the lingering evils of alcohol.”

Behind them, there was a scoff. Telyn and Scorpio turned to see Agent Virgo watching them. When he saw that he had their attention, he said, “How unprofessional, coming into work drunk. I thought you were Miss Follow-the-Rules, huh, Lyra?” Virgo mispronounced it as Lie-rah, with extra emphasis on the lie.

Telyn and Scorpio traded unimpressed looks and pretended not to hear him. Virgo was the sort of bully that said and did stuff for a reaction and responding to any of his taunts would only make the guy even worse.

When he saw that his audience was no longer paying attention to them, Virgo tried another tactic. “So, I heard that _someone_ was assigned the Templar case. Spying on him, are you Lyra? It’s a big case, so I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t get it. But then, I suppose it’s not so surprising that the lady gets the seduction mission. Just make sure that you remember not to fall in love with the mark, alright? And remember to use—”

“Agent Virgo!” Pisces snapped, and Virgo shut up, whirling around to face his superior in the same instant that Telyn and Scorpio turned to look at the guys. “Need I remind you that you are already on probation for harassment, Virgo?” He raised an eyebrow, and a thin streak of scarlet followed the motion.

Virgo shook his head and mumbled a no.

“Then what did I just find you doing?”

Virgo didn’t answer.

Pisces stared at him, then waved a hand in the direction of his office, a crimson sash of light unfurling as he did so. “My office. Now.” He waited until Virgo had trudged off sullenly, his not-so-metaphorical tail curled between his legs and almost tripping him as it looped itself around his ankle. When Virgo was out of sight, Pisces turned back to Telyn and Scorpio. “Ladies, I apologize for the continued harassment. He will be dealt with.”

“It’s fine,” Telyn said. “I mean, not what he said, that was pretty not fine, but he didn’t get that far into the insult before you cut him off.”

“I think he got much too far into the insult.” Scorpio disagreed, and folded her arms across her chest. “The nerve of him, insinuating that…he does realize that women can spy on guys without resorting to sex, doesn’t he? Just because we happen to have boobs doesn’t mean that the basics of spying on someone is different for us than it is for men.”

“Honestly,” Pisces started, and then sighed, shoulders slumping. Lime green shot through with gold drifted over his shoulders like a shroud. “Honestly, I wonder if he’s not the emotional equivalent of an eight-year old. My niece can come up with better insults and she’s in second grade.”

Telyn laughed. “That does sound like Virgo. A schoolyard bully trapped in the body of a grown man. It’s like they say, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, and what’s on the inside of him is small and petty and thoughtlessly cruel.”

Pisces cracked a smile, lips painting in electric blue. Scorpio pressed a hand over her mouth, stifling her laughter. “Ladies,” Pisces said, with a bright blue mock bow. “I’m afraid that I’ll have to take my leave of you now. I have an erstwhile agent to discipline.”

“Go, go,” Scorpio said, waving her hand at him in amusement. “Do away with Virgo.”

“See you later, sir,” Telyn said.

When he had left, Scorpio looked down at Telyn, amusement fading. “You sure you’re alright? That was a nasty thing for him to say about you.”

“I’m fine, Scorpio,” Telyn assured her.

Scorpio hummed but didn’t refute Telyn’s statement. Instead, she slid off the corner of Telyn’s desk. “It really was a messed-up thing to say about you. I know you’re going to do great on this assignment, and you deserve a high-profile case like the Templar case. Virgo’s just jealous that he’s on probation and can’t do any fun work.” She flipped her long, pale hair back over her shoulders, then added, “I have a meeting to get to, with Aquarius. I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you later,” Telyn said, and watched her best friend hurry off towards the resident technopath’s playroom. Then she turned back to her own work. A late start and a meeting with Virgo didn’t excuse accomplishing nothing at all today. If nothing else, she could make a few notes about Claire. His listed height was a little off, for one—he was probably taller than Brynn was, and Brynn was almost 6’10”.

***

Telyn was just fumbling with the door to the apartment complex when it opened for her. She stopped short in surprise. On the other side of the doorway, Claire took a step to the side.

“Ladies first,” he said, then gestured towards her arms. “You look like you have your arms full.”

Telyn glanced down at her armfuls of groceries and hurried in gratefully. “Thank you. That helped a lot.”

“It’s no problem,” Claire looked amused. “We seem to be running into each other all the time. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I ever got your name.”

“Oh! I’m Lyra Riviera. It’s nice to meet you. Or introduce myself to you, rather. And you are…?” Telyn asked politely, despite knowing the answer to that already.

“Audric Claire. It’s nice to meet you properly.” He grinned suddenly. “I’d offer to shake your hand, but I’m afraid that might be a bit disastrous for your groceries there.”

“Probably,” Telyn admitted. Then, a little more embarrassedly, she added, “I hope you don’t think this is too out of the blue, but can I get your phone number? I’d love to chat more, but I need to get these in the fridge as soon as possible. My frozen stuff is melting.”

“Oh, sure, no problem. Considering how we met, it’s not out of the blue at all.” There was a pause as Claire dug his phone out of his pocket, and Telyn could see the moment he thought over his last sentence, because he went red and hastily added, “Sorry! I didn’t mean to bring that up again. I mean, the first meeting wasn’t so bad, but uh…” He trailed off, then dragged his hand down his face in exasperation. “You know what? How about you just give me your phone number and I’ll stop biting my tail.”

Telyn recited her phone number, told him how to spell her name, and as her phone chimed with an incoming text, she said, “Biting my tail? Is that another way of saying, putting my foot in my mouth?”

“Yeah. I’m from Atlantis, so, you know, water metaphors are my go-to.” Claire shrugged.

“Atlantis?” Telyn repeated, surprised. Of all the countries that they’d considered to be his home country, they hadn’t considered the underwater nation.

“Mm. I’m from the South Trench district,” Claire looked about to say something more, but then his phone buzzed. He glanced at it, then winced. “Shoot, I have to go! Sorry, my boss is flying into the city for an unrelated meeting, and I’m supposed to go meet him at the airport.”

“It’s fine.” Telyn said, and watched him hurry off, before she turned to the elevator.

***

“So,” Brynn started awkwardly over dinner. “How was your day at work. Uneventful, I hope?”

“I had an average day at work and then met Claire on my way back from the grocery store. He was nice enough to help me into the apartment complex.” Telyn said, absently twirling her spaghetti around her fork. In the background, the news reporter droned on about the meeting between the North Argos parliament representative and Prince Cassian of Atlantis. The Atlantean Queen’s oldest child flashed a smile at the camera.

“Claire?”

“Audric Claire, alias Templar. He’s a prospective supervillain I’m investigating.” 

There was a moment of silence. The news reporter was talking about the Atlantean royal family now, “Prince Cassian is the oldest child, but because Atlantis is a queendom, not a kingdom, he wasn’t in the line of succession. The throne will go to his younger sister, Crown Princess Lorelai. Instead, Prince Cassian is his mother and sister’s chief diplomat.”

Then Brynn said, with clearly forced calm, “I’m sorry? You’re _investigating_ a _supervillain_? Who helped you into your _apartment_?”

Whoops. Telyn probably shouldn’t have told him that. “Dad, it’s fine. We live in the same apartment complex. I had my hands full, he was leaving, and he was nice enough to hold the door open for me. I got his phone number out of it, too, so that’s good. Aquarius is working on it as we speak.”

“Telyn, this is a supervillain we’re talking about! There is no nice for them, you’re just lucky that he didn’t decide to kill you for the inconvenience.” Brynn exclaimed, standing up. Telyn hated it when he did that, because he only did that to try to intimidate her into going along with his plans by looming over her.

“He’s only a prospective supervillain. Frankly, the only reason he’s considered a villain at all is because two members of the Chinese Supervillain League tried to recruit them. He not only turned them down but left them strung up for the police to find. If the Chinese Supervillain League hadn’t tried to recruit him, he wouldn’t even be on our radar.”

“That’s not an improvement,” Brynn snapped. “That just proves that he’s cunning enough to stay under the radar. You think anyone knew how dangerous Captain Leather Pants, the Horsemen of The Apocalypse League, or Akiki the Star-Eater were before they debuted? No. They just popped up out of nowhere, with no warning, and went straight to the big crimes. They kept themselves far off the radar until it was time to wreak havoc.”

Telyn leaned back in her seat, irritated. “I am aware, Dad. Trust me, I’m proceeding with all due caution. If he really is a supervillain just waiting for his chance to make it big, then we need all the forewarning we can get. This is why organizations like Horoscope are necessary!”

“And this is an unnecessary risk to yourself! You’re not trained for combat, especially not against a supervillain. And you’re living near him? He could stroll right up to you and kill you in your sleep if he finds out. Is this why you moved? To be closer to him?”

“Yes, it is the reason I moved, because this _is_ my job, whether you like it or not, and I _will_ do it. I’m a full-grown adult, Dad, I can take care of myself.”

“Not against a supervillain, you can’t!”

“Well, it’s still better me standing in his way than all of those civilians getting hurt. I might not have superhero-class or military-class combat training, but I hope you recall that you did give me combat training when I was a kid. Again, I’m not helpless.”

“That was years ago, and it was self-defense training. For if someone tried to kidnap you or mug you.”

“And I’ve kept up with my training—because it is also required by my job, if you remember. We are ideally not supposed to fight our targets, but that doesn’t mean we should be totally defenseless. And standing in the path of a supervillain does count as self-defense.”

“Telyn, please, this is dangerous. You really should just back out of this mission.”

“No.”

“Telyn!”

“I said no and seeing as I am an adult who is fully capable of making my own decisions, that resignation you want will never happen.”

“If this is another one of your perfectionist things, where you don’t want to leave something unfinished, I know we agreed that some tasks can be left undone if they jeopardize your health and safety. This counts as one of those tasks. Just tell them that you can’t deal with the pressure and they’ll probably assign someone else to the mission. There’s that Virgo guy, right? I’m sure he’d love it.”

“No. And that’s final. Change the subject.”

“Telyn—”

“Change. The. Subject.”

“I will not—”

“Did you hear?” Telyn asked, pointedly turning away and looking at the tv. “The 25th anniversary of the Atlantean King Consort’s death is coming up. They’re doing a special documentary on the history of Kings and King Consorts in Atlantis to commemorate it. It sounds interesting.”

Brynn glanced briefly at the tv before looking away. “We are not done talking about your reckless endangerment of yourself, young lady.”

“Yes, we are. Or I’m leaving and you can see me in two weeks. Your choice Dad.”

Brynn was silent. Queen Gwendolyn appeared briefly on the screen. He said, reluctantly, “She’s quite attractive. I’m surprised she hasn’t remarried yet. I’m sure there’s many people out there who would jump at the chance to be with her.”

“She’s still married, Dad.”

“Her husband is dead and has been for a quarter century by now. She’s not married any longer.”

Telyn rolled her eyes. “Right. Whatever you say.”

***

Telyn and Chrissy had been on their feet for hours, looking through several different clothing stores and malls. Chrissy’s sister was getting married next month and had only recently decided on the color for her bridesmaids’ dresses, so Chrissy now needed to find a dress that matched her color scheme.

Telyn had offered her some help with trying stuff on, but that particular shade of butter yellow was surprisingly hard to find. It didn’t help that Chrissy was rather tall, so most of the dresses she tried on tended come down to her knees instead of her calves.

Now though, after several hours of fruitless searching, the two women had decided to stop for lunch. Café Sundrop was a pleasant place, and they had—as Chrissy promised—the best tiramisu that Telyn had ever tasted. She wouldn’t have stopped in if Chrissy hadn’t recommended the café. Telyn wasn’t much of a coffee person, so quaint little coffeeshops like Café Sundrop weren’t places that she visited often. She might have to though, if all of them served food as good as what she was getting at Café Sundrop. Telyn had visited restaurants back in college that served worse food that the café did.

“I really liked that halter neck dress, though,” Chrissy complained. “It was so cute! It looked good on me too. If only it wasn’t so short.”

“And the price so high?” Telyn asked before taking a sip of her lemonade.

“That too,” Chrissy sighed. “Although finding a cute but cheap dress that fits is like finding a unicorn in a public restroom that shits gold bullions.”

“Chrissy!” Telyn spluttered, nearly choking on her lemonade as she started laughing mid-sip.

“What, you know it’s true!” Chrissy grins at her, waving her fork around cheerfully.

“You timed that on purpose,” Telyn said, “for when I was taking a drink.”

“May~be,” Chrissy said mischievously. Then her attention slid away from Telyn and refocused on something behind her. She pointed. “Hey, Telyn, is that guy passing by Claire? You know the guy you talked to, from two floors down at your apartment?”

Telyn jerked around, looking out the café window to see who Chrissy was pointing to. She didn’t spy anyone immediately, but craning her neck towards the nearby intersection, gave her a glimpse of Claire waiting patiently for the walk sign to turn on. Almost as soon as Telyn caught sight of him, the sign switched on, and he hurried across.

“Chrissy, I’ve got to go,” Telyn said, grabbing for her purse and getting up. “I’m going to go talk to him. I’ll be back as soon as I’m done, I swear, just—”

“This is your chance, right?” Chrissy said. She flapped a hand at Telyn. “Go ahead, I understand.”

“Thanks,” Telyn said, and bolted. She didn’t make it to the intersection before the walk sign turned off again. She bounced on her heels, watching Claire as he walked down the stairs set into the grassy hill. At the bottom of the hill was a small park, little more than a couple of swing sets and a half-empty sand pit. Its best feature was a long walking path around a rather large duck pond. Claire’s shirt had looked wet—perhaps he was jogging? It was nice weather for it, if he was.

The light changed, and Telyn hurried across the intersection. She hurried down the stairs two at a time, peering at the people walking the path. There were two blobs far away on the other side of the pond, a group of four people hovering near the playground—one swing was in use and two kids were throwing sand at each other, so probably two sets of parents chatting while their kids played—and one guy jogging alone. That would be Claire, then.

She hurried after him, calling his name. Claire must have had better hearing than she thought, because he stopped and looked back when she was just out of most people’s hearing range. Augmented hearing maybe? At any rate, he seemed surprised to see her.

“Lyra, hey! What a surprise,” Claire said as she approached.

“Claire, hey, yeah this is a surprise. I didn’t expect to run into you all the way out here,” Telyn slowed to a stop. “I just wanted to stop and say hi. We haven’t met up in person in a while.”

“Claire? Oh, Audric’s fine. No need to be so formal,” Claire shifted his weight.

“So,” Telyn said, “What are you doing all the way out here—you work around here or something?”

“Nah, I’m just out for a jog,” Claire said. “How about you? And how have you been?”

“Oh, I’ve been great,” Telyn said. “My friend and I were shopping earlier. Pia’s sister is getting married next month and only just told her bridesmaids what color their dresses should be.”

“That’s nice. Sounds like a bit of a problem, though. Don’t bridesmaid dresses have to be ordered months in advance? A month might not be enough time.”

“Only if they all have to have the same dress. Valentina only cares that they follow the color scheme, though, so Pia can pick whichever dress she likes most as long as it’s buttercup yellow.”

“Which is easier, I’m guessing?”

“Yep.” Telyn popped the ‘p’ just for fun. Claire grinned.

“Hope she finds something in time, then.”

“We’ve been looking, but stuff that fits Pia is hard to find. She’s tall, so calf-length dresses only fall to her knees.” Telyn paused, then said, “That’s not an interesting topic for you, though, is it?”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t know a cummerbund from a waistcoat if you slapped me with one or the other,” Claire said.

Telyn hummed for a moment, then gestured to a nearby park bench. “Want to sit while we chat?”

“Sure, why not?” Claire said, “I’ll warn you though, I’ve been jogging for a while now and I probably reek.”

“So did my dad whenever he came home from work, back before he retired. I’m used to it.”

“He did something involving a lot of exercise, then, I take it?”

Telyn thought of her dad’s last fight against Akiki the Star-Eater. How he’d come back on a stretcher and took months before he was allowed out of his wheelchair. They’d needed to do an organ transplant for his liver and Brynn was still careful with his skin grafts. Burns were always tricky things to heal and his still acted up years after that last fight.

“Yeah,” Telyn said quietly. “He retired after a work accident nearly killed him.”

“Yikes,” Claire said. “I’m sorry to hear that. He okay now, though?”

“He is,” Telyn confirmed, and then—seeing her chance—asked, “Speaking of work, how’s yours been? No accidents, I hope?”

“None, thankfully,” Claire said. “My boss is in town for the foreseeable future, though.”

“Oh, yeah?” Telyn perked up. This sounded important. “I remember you had to leave early last time because of that.”

“Mmhmm,” Claire said, nodding. “I’m working here overland, so I’m sort of on an extended business trip. My boss, on the other hand, is usually working back home. This month he’s got a series of meetings on this side of the sea, so he flew in. Figured that since I was here and he was here, we should meet up, talk about my progress since the last time we were face-to-face.”

“Progress?” Telyn asked, raising an eyebrow. “On what?”

“A super-secret project that I’m not allowed to disclose according to my contract,” Claire said promptly with a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “Cass—Mr. Uscinski, that is—has been very clear that I’m not to talk about it with anyone else. We don’t want any competitor’s hearing about it, you see.”

“Oh,” Telyn said, disappointed. She’d hoped to hear more about that, but Claire seemed to be taking his contract very seriously, so she’d have to settle for remembering his boss’ name. “Well, I hope that goes well.”

Claire sighed a little. “I hope so, too. We’re making a lot of progress though, had a recent breakthrough and everything, so that’s good news. And at this point, any news is good news.” He seemed to realize that he’d said more than he’d intended to, because he changed the subject. “So, how’s your work been, Lyra?”

“Oh, it’s been fine,” Telyn said, “one of my coworkers was recently fired.”

“Really?” Claire seemed surprised. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“It’s nice actually,” Telyn said. “My company has a three strikes policy on sexual harassment. First time it happens, perpetrator gets a warning and is moved to a different department, so they leave their target alone. Second time, they’re put on probation. Third time’s the charm and they’re fired. They get to stay until the end of the pay period, so they’re not cheated out of a paycheck, but otherwise they’re out.”

“Oh,” Claire said, and looked concerned. “He wasn’t bothering you, was he?”

“Virgil bothered everyone,” Telyn said dryly. “But our supervisor has neither patience nor mercy for people who can’t take no for an answer. Virgil never got very far in his harassment, and he had the temperament of a school-yard bully, so nobody was ever interested in putting up with his juvenile behavior.”

“Well, that’s good. I’m glad he left you alone. People like that are the worst.” Claire’s phone chimed, and he checked it. He winced. “Hey, I hate to run out on you again because of a prior engagement, but I’ve got to go.”

“Another meeting with your boss?” Telyn asked, watching him get up.

“Yes, and no. I’m meeting him for dinner tonight, but since I went for a run, I have to take a shower. That was my alarm so I knew to turn around and go home so I have enough time to shower.”

“Okay,” Telyn said, and then perked up, getting to her feet. “Hey, before you go, could we perhaps get dinner together some day?”

Claire turned to her in surprise. “You want to get dinner together?”

“Yeah! It’d be great. I’d love to get to chat longer than we have been able to so far. Maybe at your place?” Telyn looked at him hopefully. She still needed to get into his apartment, and this was the perfect opportunity.

Claire considered it. “Maybe not at my place,” he said slowly, and checked his phone. “But dinner sounds great. I’ve get off work late, though, so I’ll have to text you later when I’ve got a free evening.”

“My place then,” Telyn said. “It’s a date!”

He smiled at her. “Sure. See you then. Have a nice day!” He walked backwards towards the stairs, then turned and jogged back the way he’d come originally.

Telyn waved goodbye until he was out of sight, then dropped her arm and sighed. She’d been so close to getting into his apartment to do some snooping! But it was alright. The first dinner could be a lead up to another one, she just had to be patient. Telyn waited a minute longer, just to make certain that Claire was gone, then got up to head back to Chrissy.

***

“No, Dad,” Telyn said for the umpteenth time. “I can’t come over today. I know that today is our biweekly dinner together, but I have other stuff that I need to get done and I won’t make it. You can’t come over either, because you’ll be a giant distraction.”

“I won’t be,” Brynn protested over the phone. “I can sit and do a crossword puzzle or watch tv. Today is our father-daughter get together, at least let me spend time with you even if we’re not talking.”

“No means no, Dad,” Telyn said. She taste-tested some of the spaghetti sauce she was making and stirred it again.

“I could bring food over, so you don’t have to cook,” Brynn wheedled.

“I’m already making food. This will last me for the rest of the week, probably.”

“What are you making? I could bring dessert.”

“Lasagna, and don’t you dare. I don’t need a giant cake.”

“I could bring ice cream or cupcakes.”

“You’d bring the biggest size of them you could buy, and I do not need to eat that much sugar. Besides, you’re still not coming over.”

“We’d eat them together.”

“Dad. You’re not coming over tonight, period. End of discussion.”

“What are you doing that I can’t come over and be in the same apartment as you while you work?”

“Work stuff that you don’t have the clearance to see, that’s what. Which is why you’re going to stay home and do whatever it is that you do when you’re not being a helicopter parent.”

“Is this about that supervillain? Are you still working on him?”

“I’m not discussing my job with you.”

“You are! Telyn, I told you to just walk away from that case. That Virgo guy can take the case, or Scorpio, or someone else. There’s no reason why you should put yourself in danger—”

Telyn hung up. She wasn’t going to sit through that conversation again. Brynn had been harping on about it as soon as she’d left his house two weeks ago. It had gotten to the point that she’d muted their text conversations, started switching her phone off entirely at work, and she was seriously considering blocking his phone number to stop the constant calls.

Telyn felt a little bad about missing one of their dinners—she hadn’t missed one since she was in college, and even then, they’d called each other on a regular basis—but she really couldn’t have her dad over tonight. She’d finally gotten Claire to agree to dinner at her place, and the only day he was available was tonight. His boss—a Mr. Uscinski, whomever that was, even Aquarius didn’t know and she was the resident technopath—was keeping him very busy while he was in the area, and this was the first night off in a long time.

There was a knock on the front door, and Telyn went to answer it. Unsurprisingly enough, it was Claire. “Hey! Glad to see you made it after all, Audric,” Telyn said warmly.

“Hey, Lyra. How have you been?” Claire asked.

“Oh, _wonderful_ ,” Telyn groaned. “My dad is being a helicopter parent again. Sometimes I swear that he still thinks of me as a timid three-year-old clinging to his leg.”

“I see,” Claire looked amused. “Can’t say that I’ve had the same experiences, but I know a guy, Cass, whose mother is obsessed with his safety. There was a home intruder way back when he was a kid, and his dad died thanks to that guy. Cass was in the hospital for a long while afterwards, and his mom’s never really been the same since.”

“Oh, yikes. I hope they caught the guy who broke in.”

“No, actually, they’re still looking for him. He kidnapped Cass’s little sister, too, so the case has never been dropped. I don’t know if that makes it better or worse. On one hand, the kidnapping means that the police are extra invested in finding the guy, but on the other hand, now his sister’s missing.”

“Double yikes. How long ago did you say this happened? I’m surprised that his sister hasn’t been declared dead by now if they haven’t found her yet.”

“A little over twenty years ago. His mom hasn’t let the case go. She won’t give up until she either has her daughter back or a dead body. Honestly, I’m not even sure that Cass remembers what his sister looks like. He probably just thinks of his other sister instead—Lorie was born a few months after the incident.”

“Wow. That had to suck for their mom. Lose the husband, lose the daughter, have the son in the hospital, and then find out you’re expecting a child?” Telyn shook her head, “I feel bad for the poor lady.”

“Don’t we all?” Claire asked, sounding strangely wistful. Then he blinked. “So, is this just my nose playing tricks on me, or is that food I smell?”

“That would be the lasagna. You said you didn’t have any preferences besides ‘not fish’ so I went ahead and made it.” Telyn flashed him a grin, “I don’t know why but I’ve been craving lasagna lately.”

“Lasagna’s as good as anything else to me,” Claire said, “as long as that anything else isn’t fish. You’d think I’d be used to eating fish, having lived all my life in Atlantis, but no. As it turns out, turning into a sea serpent just makes me paranoid that whatever fish I’m eating is not actually a fish, but a fellow Atlantean in disguise.”

“Oh, I can see why you’d be concerned. You turn into a sea serpent?”

“Yep. It’s a common power to get in Atlantis—most everything is water related. Sea serpent or fish transformations, hydrokinesis, siren enthralling, you name it, we’ve got it.”

“Huh. I did not know that,” Telyn served the lasagna, and after they had both taken their first bite, she said, “You know, I’m hydrokinetic. It’s an uncommon power up here on the surface. I’ve met maybe two other people who are hydrokinetic, and they can’t do as much as I can. At most, they can purify water, or dry themselves off quick. I don’t suppose you know anyone that’s also hydrokinetic.”

“Oh, sure. Cass and Lorie both are, and the royal family is famous for their hydrokinesis. Did you know that the first queen supposedly was a sea goddess that raised the stone Atlantis sits upon from the seabed and sculpted the city using the tides and water pressure? I don’t know how much truth there is to that tale, but there’s no denying that the royal family are some of, if not the strongest hydrokinetics in the world.”

Telyn raised her eyebrows in surprise. “That’s cool. Is that one of Atlantis’ creation myths?”

“It’s not so much a creation myth as it is a founding story. Creation myths are more about the birth of the world, not the birth of the nation. This is more like the story of Romulus and Remus building Rome than it is to the classic God created the world in seven days tale.”

Before he could continue, somebody knocked on the door. Telyn and Claire looked towards it in confusion.

“Are you expecting someone else?” Claire asked.

“No,” Telyn said, but something about his phrasing made her heart sink. She hurried to the door and winced when she saw who was on the other side of the door. Looking over her shoulder, she called, “I’ll be a moment. Sorry about this!” before she pulled the door open and stepped out into the hall.

“Dad! What are you doing here?” Telyn said.

“I came to see you,” Brynn said. “Today is father-daughter dinner day, and you haven’t missed one since you were in college. I figured that you must be really stressed if you needed to miss one, so I came to you instead.”

“You’re in your old superhero costume!” Telyn gestured at his chest, where his super suit was clearly visible under the unbuttoned shirt.

“I’m wearing other clothes,” Brynn protested.

“That excuse only works if you’re trying to hide the suit. You’re not even trying! It’s clearly visible.”

Brynn changed tactics, “This isn't the old one. This is last year’s edition. I don’t work out as much anymore, so my original doesn’t quite fit anymore. I had this one made so I could show up at charity events in my suit and have it fit properly.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Telyn snapped. “Are you trying to sabotage my mission?” When Brynn didn’t answer her immediately, Telyn stiffened. “You are! What, are you nuts? Trying to—no, I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to bait Audric into attacking you so you can use the attack as ‘proof’ that my job is too dangerous for me and force me to quit. That’s it, isn’t it?”

“Oh, so he’s _Audric_ now? Besides, if he attacks, you’ll need my backup,” Brynn said.

“If he attacks, it’ll be because you baited him, and you’ll put all the civilians living around us in danger.”

“Look, Telyn, how about we have this conversation inside, where he’s less likely to wander by and overhear us.”

“He lives two floors down from me. And no, you’re not coming inside. We’re not going to have this conversation inside or in the hall or anywhere, because you are leaving and not coming back.”

Brynn frowned at Telyn. “What do you mean I can’t come in? I lived with you for years, it’s not like I haven’t seen your messy room before. Or is he in there with you?”

“Dad, I am not having this conversation with you period. Leave now.”

“He is in there, isn’t he? Telyn! Do you have any idea how much danger you’re putting yourself in? I knew I shouldn’t have let you move out or take this godforsaken job.”

“You didn’t _let_ me do anything, Dad. I’m not a teenager who needs your permission for every little thing.”

“Telyn, move out of the way. I’m going to deal with him, before you get yourself and all the civilians here killed.”

“You will do no such thing. I’m not going anywhere.” Telyn said, and ignored how her phone started playing _Bubblegum Bitch_ , Aquarius’ ringtone.

“I will, because _someone_ here has to be a responsible adult and put an end to this,” Brynn said.

“I am being a responsible adult! You’re the one who’s being irrational and making things worse. Again, if he lashes out, it’ll be because of _you_.” Telyn’s phone stopped ringing as it went to voicemail.

“It’ll be because he’s a supervillain, and they _do_ that, and you’re woefully unprepared for facing down a supervillain. Telyn, you’re practically a civilian, and it’s only because of your job that you’ve got _delusions_ of being something else. This is why I keep telling you to resign and be something safer. Like a housewife. You can’t get into any trouble as a housewife.”

“As if! I love my job, and I’m not going anywhere.” Telyn’s phone started ringing again—Aquarius was calling back.

“You should,” Brynn snapped.

“I won’t. Now shut up, it’s work, I need to take this call,” Telyn fished her phone out her pocket and answered it before it could go to voicemail again.

“Are you _backtalking_ me, young lady—” Brynn asked, and then shut up as Telyn covered his mouth.

“Lyra!” Aquarius said, “There’s something you need to know about Templar. I’ve been trying to trace his call history and stuff—do you have any idea how hard it is to hack stuff from an underwater country? All their stuff is built weird—and I finally made it in! But you need to leave him alone.”

“What do you mean, leave him alone?” Telyn asked.

“I figured out who he reports to and what he’s doing, and this is way outside of our jurisdiction. The guy works for a Mr. Uscinski, right?”

“Right, he did say that,” Telyn said.

“Uscinski is a fake name. Well, it’s not really a fake name, it’s his dad’s surname and his parents were married, but nobody actually uses surnames with them.”

“Them who? Aquarius, just spit it out already.”

“Templar’s boss is Prince Cassian of Atlantis. Our ‘prospective supervillain’ is part of the Atlantean equivalent to the Secret Service—and I’m pretty sure he’s on the taskforce that’s looking for Queen Gwendolyn’s missing daughter.”

Telyn froze. “He’s _what_?”

“Part of the Atlantean secret service-type organization. They call themselves Templars. I _might’ve_ attracted the notice of a technopath in their employ when I finally started making headway in the hacking thing, and Pisces just got off the phone with their, and our, superiors. Like I said, this is way out our jurisdiction, and you need to pull out of this op. We’re in enough trouble just for having hacked his stuff, we don’t need to keep causing trouble.”

Telyn slumped back against her apartment door and rubbed a hand across her face in exhaustion. “You’re certain, Aquarius?”

“Definitely. I’ve never seen Pisces go pale so fast as I did when I told him who I’d accidentally alerted.”

“Great. Just great,” Telyn sighed. “I’ll go apologize to Audric for the confusion, then. See if we can’t save some face by owning up to it.”

“You go do that. I’ll call you back if we need you for anything. Bye, Lyra.”

“Bye, Aquarius. See you tomorrow.” Telyn hung up.

“Apologize for what confusion?” Brynn asked.

Telyn looked back at her dad. “There was a minor miscommunication. Audric works for the Atlantean government and is doing some sort of…thing for them. I don’t know what and it’s definitely above my security clearance.”

Brynn stared at her. “An Atlantean government employee,” he repeated skeptically.

“Yep. I have no idea what the Chinese Supervillain League wanted with him, maybe to tell him to get lost? But either way, this is way out of our jurisdiction. I have an apology to deliver.” Telyn waved her hand at him. “Go home, dad. You’re still not going to make anything better by hanging out here and looking intimidating.”

“What kind of government employee are we talking here?” Brynn asked.

“What does it matter?” Telyn said, but when he continued to frown at her, she said, “some kind of secret service equivalent. Templars, they call themselves, apparently.”

Brynn flinched. Then he grabbed her hand and started trying to drag her away. “Absolutely not. We’re leaving him alone. I’m sure he’ll be out of your apartment by next week, so we can pack up your stuff and move it all back into my house then. But for now, you are definitely not interacting with him in any way anymore.”

“What? No, don’t be ridiculous, Dad, I’m not moving out. Let go of me,” Telyn said. When he continued trying to haul her away from her own apartment, she dug her heels in even harder and raised her voice. “I said, let go!”

Behind her, the door opened, and an apologetic Claire poked his head out. “I’m sorry, but I heard shouting. Are you okay…?” His voice trailed off as he got a look at Brynn. Then his face hardened. “Are you Brynn Blunt, otherwise known as the hero Clockwork?”

Brynn said, “No,” at the same time Telyn said, “Yes.” She gave her dad a bewildered look.

“Dad, you are Clockwork. You’re wearing your old super suit right now.”

“Don’t be ridiculous Telyn, of course I’m not,” Brynn said hurriedly. Then, to Claire he added, “I’m sorry, my daughter has a fanciful imagination.”

“Fanciful imagination?” Telyn repeated incredulously. “What, are you calling me crazy?”

“Sir, please let go of her,” Claire said very calmly.

“She’s my daughter and we’re going home right now. She’s just being stubborn,” Brynn said, pulling at Telyn again.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Telyn said, and grabbed the doorframe so he couldn’t pull her away. “Dad, what is up with you?”

“Excuse me,” Claire said, and slid past her out of the doorway. Immediately, Brynn tried to yank Telyn away from Claire. “Lyra, you remember how I said that they never caught the person who killed my boss’ dad and kidnapped his sister? I might have left out a few details, but my boss is Prince Cassian, his father was the Atlantean King Consort Telor, and I’m currently staring right at the assailant.”

Telyn’s grip on the doorframe slackened. Brynn wrenched at her and she stumbled towards him. “What?” she croaked, barely paying any attention to the motion. “What, no, that can’t be. He’s my dad, he’s an ex-superhero. Dad wouldn’t have killed anyone, or kidnapped anyone, let alone royalty.”

“He would and has.”

“I haven’t done anything! Telyn, we’re leaving.”

“He’s from a backwater Nebraska farm,” Telyn protested. “How would he even get access to the royal family of another country?”

“Before he assumed the identity of Brynn Blunt, he was called Templar Clarence, the chief bodyguard for Her Majesty, Queen Gwendolyn. Twenty-five years ago, he went rogue, killed the King Consort, attempted to kill Prince Cassian, and kidnapped the then-Crown Princess Adelyn.”

“That’s complete and utter nonsense,” Brynn said, and wrenched Telyn away from the doorframe. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be taking my daughter home now. Please remove yourself from her apartment immediately in the meantime.”

“Dad, let go!” Telyn said, and then snapped her fingers. Just inside her apartment doorway was a vase full of water, kept there for times when she was outside and needed material for her hydrokinesis. Telyn drew on this vase now, wrenching the water up out of it, condensing water vapor in the air and adding it to the vase’s small stream as she did so, and used it to forcibly shove her dad away from her.

Claire took his eyes off Brynn briefly and watched her, one eyebrow raised. “You used water vapor to increase the amount of water you have to work with. You really weren’t kidding about being a powerful hydrokinetic.”

“I wouldn’t have said that if I wasn’t,” Telyn said. “Dad, just—stop. I’m sure that this is all just a misunderstanding. Can we talk it out instead? Maybe there’s, I don’t know, some guy that copies people’s appearances and used yours to commit the crime? It’s happened before, remember, the Hallowtide Killer did that to disguise himself.”

Brynn turned to his daughter and took a deep breath. “Telyn,” he said, and his voice was heavy, a weight added to it that hadn’t been there before. “Come here. Let’s go home now.”

Telyn jerked away, startled, and then unwillingly relaxed. Her grasp on the water faltered, and it dropped to the ground in a puddle. She started to walk towards Brynn.

Before she took more than two steps, Claire opened his mouth and made a high-pitched screeching noise. Immediately, the fog building in her head, drowning all her thoughts, vanished. Loud jarring noises often broke Brynn’s spell.

Telyn blinked a couple times to help clear her head, then stared at Brynn in horror. “Did you just try to _mesmerize_ me?”

“We need to go home,” Brynn pleaded, “and you’re not listening to me. Can you blame me for being concerned?”

“I can blame you for trying to mesmerize me!” Telyn snapped. “Dad, what the hell? You don’t—you shouldn’t _ever_ —mesmerize family!” Why did she even need to _tell_ her dad that? It should be obvious, like _don’t walk off a cliff_ or _don’t point a loaded gun at someone_ or _don’t use your powers on civilians_.

Claire stepped in again. “Sir, cease and desist at once. You are under arrest and additional forces are on their way to detain you. Do not try to resist or to mesmerize us. Your efforts will be futile.”

“I dare you to try,” Brynn snapped, then said in that heavy tone, “Telyn, please, let’s go home now. I’ll make you dinner, whatever you want, just please go home with me now.”

Telyn stumbled again but Brynn’s hold on her mind was quickly shattered by another shriek from Claire. This time he didn’t limit himself only to a sonar screech and transformed his lower half into a long serpent’s tail. Claire’s tail whipped forwards and lashed around Brynn’s waist, pinning his arms to his sides and lifting him off the ground.

Brynn tried to wrench himself free, but promptly failed. He turned back to Telyn and said, “Telyn, my baby girl, I love you. But,” and here his voice gained that heavy weight again, “now you must _run_. Get away from this madman.”

Claire shrieked in response, and the fog fled as soon as it descended. He tightened his grip on Brynn, forcing the air from his lungs and not allowing him room to breathe. A classic tactic to deal with Brynn’s “Vocal Hypnosis.”

Telyn swayed a little in place, then steadied herself. “Dad,” she started to say again, then her voice faltered and died in her throat. She took a deep breath, then turned to Claire. “Don’t suffocate him. If you want him to answer your questions or to talk this out, you need him alive.”

“Lyra, I hate to tell you this,” Claire said through gritted teeth, “but aside from strangling him or constantly setting off my sonar to disrupt him before his commands can be executed, I don’t have any other way to stop Clarence.”

“His powers don’t work if he’s dehydrated. Make sure that he doesn’t stop me, and I can dehydrate him enough to shut them down,” Telyn said.

Claire raised an eyebrow and muttered to himself, “Only ‘pretty powerful,’ my ass. She’s stronger than anyone I know aside from Cass and Lorie,” then added a little louder, “Yes, ma’am, as you wish.”

Telyn ignored his mumblings and focused. The human body was comprised mostly of water, so dehydrating it was easy. However, dehydrating enough to incapacitate but not kill was considerably harder, and required a lot more control over her powers than Telyn was used to using on a regular basis. Telyn wanted to get this right—her target this time was her dad, and regardless of the hypnotization attempts, she didn’t want to hurt him.

“Telyn, don’t!” Brynn pleaded; his eyes had gone wide and the whites shone clearer than his irises. “You’re not trained for that sort of thing!”

“Oh, but I am, Dad,” Telyn muttered and raised her hands, holding them out as far away from her body as she could. She took a fortifying breath, then began. The semi-familiar mantra played out in her head—palms face away, pull her hands to her face, scooping hand motion tracing out a dive, push down, palms to the floor.

Brynn gasped as the air became suffocating with humidity. Almost immediately, though, the humidity vanished as Telyn’s downward shove condensed all the stolen water into a puddle. When Claire squeezed again experimentally, Brynn’s face whitened a little, and the color was slow to return. His lips looked partially caved in, too—two sure signs of dehydration.

Telyn took a step away from her dad and waved. The puddle pulled away from Brynn’s feet. “I do complete fieldwork sometimes, Dad. I had to learn to use my powers for actual combat, even killing if my missions got too dangerous. Death by dehydration isn’t fun, but it isn’t as terror inducing as drowning, so at least my targets died peacefully and without fear. It’s much less noticeable than drowning, too.”

“Telyn, why?” Brynn rasped out. “I’m your father. You shouldn’t ever use your powers on me.”

Telyn folded her arms over her chest and looked away, uncomfortable. “Well, I could say the same to you. And while I’m still sure that this is some big misunderstanding, resisting arrest doesn’t do your chances of clearing this up any favors. Besides, this is an apartment complex. There are people living here. If the fight continued, we’d be putting all the civilians at risk.”

“Too true,” Claire said, and then cocked his head. “I can hear my people coming now.” Telyn listened as well and could hear the pounding of footsteps on the staircase. As the first armored men sprinted out of the stairwell, Claire turned to her. “You don’t talk like a civilian. Either you’ve picked up some of the lingo from your dad—and I doubt that that’s where you learned it, what with that comment about fieldwork—or you’ve got some actual combat training yourself.”

“Didn’t you just answer your own question, Audric?” Telyn shot back automatically. “You’re right, though. Allow me to introduce myself properly. I’m Agent Lyra, of the superspy organization Horoscope. You know my dad’s surname and he’s been screaming my actual name all over the place, so I’m sure you can figure out what my real identity is.”

“A superspy?” Claire raised an eyebrow at her in surprise. “What are the odds. I’m Atlantean Secret Service. Though I’m going to guess that you and your people already knew that.”

Telyn winced a little. “Not until earlier today, to be honest. You first showed up on our radar talking to the Chinese Supervillain League, so we thought you were a potential supervillain. I was sent to make sure that you weren’t. Aquarius, our resident tech expert, accidentally tripped an alarm in your systems earlier today and found out about everything. I had just gotten off the phone with her and my boss when you came out of my apartment.”

Claire’s expression cleared. “Ah, that makes sense,” he said. “I’d be a little concerned about our security if you had known the identities of our Templars.”

“Don’t worry,” Telyn assured him, and tried to ignore the way that the other—Templars, she supposed, were handcuffing her dad and leading him away. “As far as I know, your security is still intact.” She turned to look as Brynn shrieked her name.

Brynn opened his mouth to say something else but coughed harshly instead. As he continued wheezing, Telyn took a concerned step towards him. Claire stopped her with a hand on her arm.

“Don’t,” he advised, “I’ve seen that happen before. Classic snapback effect of trying to mesmerize while dehydrated. ‘Siren Song’ is almost as common a power as ‘Transformation’ and ‘Hydrokinesis’ are in Atlantis.”

Telyn’s eyes watered, and she turned away again, this time to wipe her eyes. “Right,” she managed to say past the lump in her throat. “Dad was trying to mesmerize me again. Good to know.”

Claire watched sympathetically and then said, “I know that this is a bit off topic, but would you like to get dinner sometime?” Gesturing at Telyn’s open apartment, he added, “We never got the chance to finish our lovely lasagna. Which is a real shame because that looked delicious.”

Telyn blinked up at him in surprise. “You still want to meet up with me? Even though I admitted that I was spying on you?”

“Well, I do genuinely like you,” Claire said. “I mean, I like being friends with you, which I thought we were, and while I will have to move back to Atlantis now that Templar Clarence has been captured, I know I’m going to miss you. I’d like to hang out sometime before I go.”

“Dinner sounds nice,” Telyn said, “although we’ll have to schedule it for another night. I foresee a lot of questions and debriefings in the near future—for both of us, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Oh, almost definitely,” Claire said. “We just found the most wanted criminal in all of Atlantis, but…he kidnapped Princess Adelyn. And we’ve yet to find her.” He looked at Telyn thoughtfully, then added, “Key word there being the _yet_. That’s for another day, though. Capturing him is enough action for me. Prince Cassian will probably send me back to Atlantis after the interrogations are finished and we know what he did with and to the princess. I’ll still be here for a while.”

“Well, that’s good to know.” Telyn said. “I’m glad to hear that you’ll be staying for a while yet.”

One of the other Templars came up to them then, and Claire turned to speak with his coworker. Telyn shifted her weight, and firmly put the implications of that yet out of her mind. She had bigger things to worry about. Like her upcoming debriefing and Brynn’s trial, and Claire’s departure and all the questions Chrissy was going to ask when she heard what happened. But in the meantime, she could clean up the mess in the hallway.

Telyn raised her hands, and spun on her heel, and all the water in the hall flowed up off the ground and dumped itself into her vase. Once it was all away, Telyn reached over and closed her front door.


End file.
